Blaine M. McCallister v. State of Wyoming, ex rel. Department of Workforce Services, Workers' Compensation Division

Summary

The Supreme Court of Wyoming affirmed the denial of Blaine M. McCallister’s request for an endless pool as workers’ compensation medical equipment. The court held that the Office of Administrative Hearings had authority to decide the matter because the primary issues were legal rather than medically contested, and that collateral estoppel barred relitigation of the request previously denied in a 2017 proceeding.

Holdings

1. The Division properly referred McCallister's case to the Office of Administrative Hearings because the case's primary issues were legal, not medically contested. Although the case included an issue concerning the reasonableness and necessity of the pool, that issue was not dispositive, and the controlling issues concerned the statutory personal-item exclusion and collateral estoppel.
2. Collateral estoppel barred McCallister from relitigating his entitlement to an endless pool because the issue was actually and necessarily decided in the 2017 OAH proceeding, the 2017 proceeding resulted in a judgment on the merits, the parties were the same, and McCallister had a full and fair opportunity to litigate.

Questions Presented

1. Whether the Division was required to refer McCallister's case to the Workers' Compensation Medical Commission rather than the Office of Administrative Hearings because the case was medically contested.
2. Whether collateral estoppel barred McCallister from relitigating his entitlement to an endless pool after the OAH had denied the same claim in 2017.

Disposition

affirmed